The Further Adventures of Me

Coupon Cutting Take 1

18 Nov 2010 1 Comment

by maryann in Deal Tags: Coupon, Coupons, Food Deals, Free, Grocery, Save, shopping

So I hear the stories all the time -those daring individuals who walk into the grocery store bearing their carefully clipped coupons. These wise ones who leave with hundreds of dollars of groceries  and spending a few dollars. Some, the great ones, even get the stores to pay them.

Ralps is offering double coupons right now so if I figured if I was going to give it a try-this was the time to do it. I have to admit the whole idea of coupon cutting is a bit intimidating. I have managed my grocery budget quite well using: Fresh and Easy, Trader Joes and recently Super King Market.  Still, the tales of free food kept drawing my interest. 

Today I braved it.  First, I went to the experts. I found some excellent blogs from super savvy shoppers. These are some great blogs. Makes you feel like you can walk into the store and just have them hand over the goods.

Southern Cali Saver

This Frugal LIfe

My Good Cents

Chief Family Officer

Give Me Neither

Pinching Your Pennies – They have printible shopping lists by grocery stores. I haven’t figured it out yet but for those of you have the game down, this looks like it might come in handy.

Mommy’s Wish List – List of where to get great coupons.

So coupons clipped I set off.  I learned to group my coupons by section so I am not running all over the store. Also, read the coupon entirely. Is it for one, or two or more? Also, I am not opposed to buying store brands. I noticed that the store brands were sometimes cheaper, even with the coupon.

So this is what I ended up buying today at Ralphs:

Almond Breeze  ($1 off) so $2 off of $2.69  = .69

3 Campbell’s Soup Healthy Select  ($1 coupon). Sale 2 for $5 so $3 total

2 Campbell’s Chunky Soups ($1 coupon).  Sale 3 for $4.5o  so   $2.50

Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookies – ($1 coupon) On sale for $2. = FREE

Pepperidge Farm Crackers –($1 coupon)  On sale for $2.99- .99

2 Pillsbury Croissants- ($1 coupon) – Sale 2 for $3 so total 2 for $1

2 Break Apart Thanksgiving Cookies- ($1 coupon). 2 for $5 sale so  total 2 for $3

2 Family Pack Hawaiian Bread ($1 off) 2 for $4. So 2 for $2

1 Box Cinnamon Toast Crunch- On sale for $1.49. Coupon .55.  =.39

1 Scott Tissue-( $1 off Coupon ) – $1.99 Paper Towel Roll so – Free

1 Loaf Healthy Grain Bread (1.49 manager’s special)

No, not free, but a total of $21  plus $1 off future Pillsbury purchases. 

It wasn’t bad for a first run and I know I got some items for free. I am still not convinced that clipping coupons is not better than shopping at my usually discount stores.  I usually get a $3 or $5 off coupon every week for Fresh and Easy, Super King runs unbeatable weekly sales, and Trader Joes just has the most delicious food and pretty good prices overall.

I am not going to give up though. I’d love to hear your tips and tricks before my next coupon cutting adventure.

Here are links to all the coupons I used:

Campbell’s- Print.Coupons.com

Pillsbury- Cellfire.com or Pillsubry.com

Pepperidge Farm  $1 off Crackers & $1 off Cookies

Scott Toilet Paper  $1 off

King’s  Hawaiian $1 off

Almond Breeze $1 off